A New Friend
by Kalta79
Summary: Tifa's offer of friendship to Vincent is all-encompassing. Set after Advent Children. #friends with benefits #platonic soulmates #romantic friendship #comfort sex
1. Chapter 1

When Vincent woke up, he was confused as to why he felt more relaxed than he had in years, and a little sick at the same time. His second surprise was when he realized there was a scantily clad woman in bed with him, and it wasn't his bed.

"It's about time you woke up." Tifa said as he stared at her in shock.

"Tifa? Wha…what's going on?" The loudness of his own voice made his head start throbbing.

"Here you go." Tifa handed him two ibuprofen and a glass of water she had thoughtfully ready on the nightstand. "You don't remember, do you?"

"No." Vincent admitted as he took the pills and gulped them down with the water.

"Tomorrow you dropped by the bar and wouldn't stop drinking. Eventually you confessed that it was Lucrecia and Hojo's anniversary." Tifa quietly explained. "I finally cut you off and got you upstairs."

"But why…why are we in bed together?" Vincent tried to remember, but the headache hadn't subsided yet.

"You needed comforting." Tifa smiled at him, neglecting to mention he had called her Lucrecia the whole time. "Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything more."

"I'll explain to Cloud that it wasn't your fault." Vincent wasn't happy that he was responsible for potentially causing trouble for the happy couple.

"You don't have to explain anything to Cloud. See that?" Tifa pointed to the other twin bed in the room. "We are soul mates, but it's strictly platonic. It was hard for us both to admit, but we finally did. He and I have no claim on each other like you think."

"You're not a couple?" Vincent was stunned…he had been shut away from people for so long, it was hard for him to get used to all the complicated relationships that abounded.

Tifa smiled again as she put her hand on his cheek. "Cloud and I are as much of a couple as you and I are. Now I better get dressed and get ready for the day's work. Would you like to have breakfast with me?" She got out of bed and stretched, and Vincent had to admit she was quite attractive.

"You…you're not mad at me for last night?" Vincent felt he had to apologize for his behavior.

"I'll be mad at you if you keep asking questions like that." Tifa stood in front of him and cupped his face in her hands so he had to look at her. "You're still very human despite the beast inside you. I told you it was just comfort between us last night because I know Lucrecia is the only woman for you. So just remember, if you ever need comforting again, my door is always open. I don't like kicking my friends out of my bar because they turn into drunk idiots." Tifa kissed him gently, then made a face as a little bit of hair got stuck in her mouth momentarily, and giggled when she got it out. "I've never been with a man before when I couldn't tell the difference between our hair."

"I'm sor…" Vincent started to say.

"I don't want you apologizing anymore!" Tifa interrupted. "Now, how do you like your eggs?"

Sitting down at the table with Tifa for breakfast, Vincent felt awkward and relieved at the same time. She refused to talk about last night anymore, instead she made amusing small talk about some of the patrons at the bar. He didn't know what to say, so he just ate and found himself smiling occasionally. When it was done, she put the dirty dishes in the sink, and popped into the bathroom to brush her teeth before taking him by the hand and leading him downstairs.

"I…um…" Vincent didn't know what to say now.

"You're about to promise me that you will come and find me the next time you feel an urge to try and give yourself liver damage?" Tifa inquired. "We don't have to do anything, you can just talk to me about whatever's bothering you. I'm a good listener."

"Thank you." Vincent decided that was the safest thing to say, and disappeared from Tifa's sight with a flash of his red cloak.

Tifa stood there for a moment before heading to the bar to get ready for opening, finding Cloud already there to her surprise.

"I slept in your office last night, I didn't want to interrupt." Cloud told her.

"Thanks. He's tough to reach, but I hope I got through to him. He doesn't need to shut himself off so much from other people." Tifa replied.

"That seems to be your kind of man, doesn't it?" Cloud smiled at his best friend.

"He could never be my kind of man, not with Lucrecia forever in his heart. I offered only friendship." Tifa explained.

"Like I said, your kind of man if he can be with you but is still in love with another woman." Cloud's smile faded a little as they both still felt the twinge of hurt from accepting their love wasn't what they wanted it to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Vincent was thinking about Tifa's words to him over the next few days and he wasn't quite sure what she was offering, but she did say they were friends. He didn't have many friends when he was 'normal' another lifetime ago, and none acted like her. He wanted to talk to her and straighten things out, but he didn't have a cellphone yet.

Tifa was finishing up lunch when there was a knock on her office door. "Come in!" she called, surprised because her employees usually just walked in, not knocking first. She was surprised again when Vincent walked in. "I was hoping to see you again. We need to talk more." she said.

"That's why I'm here. I need help picking out a cellphone." Vincent explained.

"I think the reason I didn't want you to apologize for our last encounter is because I was the one in the wrong." Tifa confessed as she walked with Vincent to the nearest cellphone store.

"What do you mean?" Vincent ignored the stares at his unusual appearance.

"I should have put you in Cloud's bed that night, not my own. He wouldn't have minded, and later on I wondered if I did it because I needed comforting too." Tifa explained.

"What did you need comforting for?" Vincent asked.

"Nobody's perfect, Vincent. We all have problems. I told you that Cloud and I realized we're not in love with each other and never will be. He's my best friend, but that's all he is, and it's so hard not to feel lonely sometimes, especially when you explain to your date that you're living with your childhood sweetheart and are raising two kids together…they suddenly realize they have somewhere better to be. Here it is." Tifa pointed to the store.

"You have trouble finding someone?" Vincent opened the door for Tifa, as he coped with the realization that she might understand his loneliness.

"I'm having trouble finding anyone who will actually look at my face, not my breasts. Love is never easy, not even in fairy tales." Tifa looked around for the smartphones and guided Vincent to them. "Oh, I forgot to ask, do you have money for a smartphone?"

"I'm officially dead, so…no. How much do they cost?" Vincent looked at the odd devices. "And why are they called smartphones?"

"Well, we'll worry about that later, I can buy it for you this time. How about this one? See, this has a camera, and it's pre-loaded with all these apps already installed." Tifa started showing him all the features of the one she picked out as a salesman approached them.

"Apps? Why does a phone need a camera? You just call people with it." Vincent was trying not to be overwhelmed by Tifa's explanations of the smartphone.

"What kind of a person thinks a phone is just for calling people? Were you living in a cave?" the salesman exclaimed.

Vincent was about to explain that it was the love of his life who is now living in a cave while he lived in a coffin, but Tifa spoke up first. "Are you this rude to all your customers?" she retorted angrily. The salesman backed off as she glared at him and clenched one hand into a fist. "I don't like it when people insult my friends." Tifa muttered.

"You take friendship very seriously, don't you?" Vincent said as more of a statement than an actual question.

"Yes I do. Let's get this phone and get out of here." Tifa picked out a similar smartphone that came with a prepaid plan.

"How am I going to pay you back for this?" Vincent asked as they left the store.

"You will have to get a job I guess, but with you being officially dead, that might be a problem." Tifa smiled. "But for now, consider this a present or an apology, whatever works for you."

"What are selfies?" Vincent wondered. He had heard the cashier mention that word, but he didn't know what it meant.

"It's taking a picture of yourself and posting it online so everyone can see how special you think you are." Tifa explained in an offhand manner, wondering if she was blushing at some of the selfies she had done over the past year for the online dating services she had tried.

"Why do you consider me a friend?" Vincent walked her back to Seventh Heaven.

"You helped us save the world, didn't you?" Tifa reminded him. "And I am glad you dropped by, I did want to clear the air about what I said last week. That's all I'm offering you, my friendship. If we ever need sexual comforting again, then we do, but I'm not promising to whore myself to you or anything like that. Not when I just got done wasting years of my life clinging to a man who was in love with someone else, I'm not making the same mistake twice. I just can't stand seeing loneliness in anybody." Tifa stopped in front of the door to her bar and handed the bag with phone in it to Vincent. "So please just keep in touch whenever you need help or company." Tifa kissed him on the cheek and went inside.


	3. Chapter 3

"Have you heard from Vincent lately?" Cloud asked Tifa as they ate breakfast with Marlene and Denzel.

"He called once to make sure he was using his smartphone right, but I haven't talked to him since then, and that was a month ago." Tifa replied, a smile appearing on her face at her recollection of listening to him curse at his phone til he realized she was on the other end. It had been so funny!

"Vincent has a cellphone?" Marlene spoke up. "He finally got one?"

"Yes he did, Marlene. And you're going to be late for school if you aren't done eating in three minutes." Cloud told her.

"Why'd you want to know if I had heard from Vincent?" Tifa questioned Cloud as they cleaned up the table once the kids were off to school.

"W.R.O. could use him for some classified stuff. Yuffie was saying…" Cloud's voice trailed off as he got an odd expression on his face.

Tifa sighed. She had figured out that he and Yuffie were hot and heavy, but he tried to be discreet about it, knowing her attempts to find someone else so far had been miserable failures. "I'll call him tomorrow if Yuffie thinks it's important." Tifa forced a smile.

The call never happened, for at that moment, Vincent was on his way to Seventh Heaven. He wanted to repay Tifa for the cellphone, even though he wasn't too happy with how complicated it was.

"Vincent! Tifa and I were just talking about you." Cloud said when he saw the former Turk waiting for the bar to open.

"This is for her." Vincent reached inside his cloak and held out some money to Cloud, wondering what they said about him.

"You should give it to her yourself, she'll be glad to see you." Cloud let him into the bar. "I've got to run, I've got a special delivery to make." He hurried out the door to his bike.

"You got a job?" Tifa smiled at Vincent when he handed her the money.

"No, Tseng gave me my death benefit." Vincent explained.

Tifa stared at him. "So he gave you the money that is supposed to go to your beneficiaries in case of your death, because they never did since you had none and your death didn't last?"

"Yeah." Vincent replied.

"Um, I'm glad you paid me back for the phone, but have you thought about getting a real job yet? I think Yuffie might have one for you." Tifa informed him.

"I already told Reeve I'm not interested." Vincent said.

"You've already talked to Reeve? Then why is Yuffie…why don't you want to work for W.R.O.?" Tifa asked.

"Why do I need a job? I have my death benefit. I don't need money for anything but this cellphone." Vincent wondered.

"It's not healthy to shut yourself off from other people. You're as human as any of us. With a job, you can get an apartment and meet new people." Tifa said. "Could you come back at lunch and we'll work on your resume?"

Vincent shrugged. "I've got nothing else to do."

"I hope you like pizza. I ordered one that's half vegetarian and half meat supreme, so eat whatever you like." Tifa handed him some napkins and put the the box on the corner of her desk, opening it before sitting down at her desk. "Now, I know your name is Vincent Valentine, but what's your education history?" She got the word processing program up on her computer, opening a blank resume template.

"Just regular schooling. I never had any higher education." Vincent admitted as he looked over the pizza.

"You never went to college?" Tifa never expected that. "But you're a Turk, and you're all well-educated. Wasn't your father was a brilliant scientist?"

"I would have gone, but when my father died, I decided to join the Turks instead. I wanted to help protect the other scientists like him. The training program included all the education necessary for the job." Vincent tried a meat slice of the pizza first.

"Okay…we'll skip that for now. What are your job skills?" Tifa asked him.

Vincent thought about that for a few moments. "I'm half-beast and can change form at will. I'm kind of immortal, or at least I don't appear to age. I lurk a lot. I've got excellent aim with my gun."

"Uh…that's not quite what I meant. Can you cook or clean? How are you at fixing things?" Tifa was starting to wonder if there were any civilian jobs she could find for him.

"I did cook and clean for myself when I was a Turk, but that was decades ago." Vincent grabbed a vegetarian slice of the pizza.

"Okay, I'll work on your resume more later. I'm hungry too now." Tifa took a slice of pizza for herself. "What is the Turk training program like?" She wondered if maybe Denzel would try and join when he was older, he had been quite disappointed he was too young to join W.R.O.

"I don't know what it's like now, but it was very intense for me. I never had time for anything else, then I passed and was assigned to Lucrecia." Vincent replied.

"You never had a social life? But Reno's second in command, and he is very sociable." Tifa continued her questioning to get him to open up more about his past.

"That's him, not me. Lucrecia was the first woman that I ever cared about." Vincent put down his napkin, unsure if he should keep talking or not.

"But she married Hojo and had Sephiroth…are you saying that you never…" Tifa started putting the pieces together. "That night was your first time?" Her cheeks turned bright red. "I'm…I…I'm extra sorry then. I would have left you alone if I'd known."

"You thought I had been with women before?" Vincent asked.

"Well…yeah. I mean you're over twice my age and you're not unattractive, so…" Tifa was feeling extremely awkward and a little ashamed of herself.

"What jobs do you think I could get?" Vincent was feeling awkward too, and wanted to get back to a more comfortable topic, so he didn't blurt out that he still didn't remember his night with her. Should he be flattered that she thought he had experience and thought he was attractive?

"I'll finish your resume and get back to you. Just make sure to answer your phone, okay?" Tifa requested before they finished the pizza in silence.


	4. Chapter 4

"This is where you live now?" Tifa walked into Vincent's apartment. "It looks very…economical. Oh, here you go." She handed him a gift bag.

"What's this for?" Vincent was glad to see her, even though he had been unsure about calling her. He just wanted her to know he had a 'proper' place to live since it seemed to matter to her. He took a wine bottle out of the bag.

"A housewarming gift. I hope you like red wine. This is a hard to find but worthwhile vintage, just like you. Oh, this does have a lovely view!" Tifa looked out the window.

"I'm glad you like it." Vincent put the bottle on his table.

"Have you tried looking for a job yet?" she asked.

"I still have plenty of money." Vincent replied.

"Well that's good. I finished the resume if you want it." It had taken hours and some creative writing on her part to come up with an honest resume that would be suitable for a variety of jobs. "I hope I wasn't being too pushy. That's another mistake I made with Cloud that I'm trying not to repeat. And my lunch break is almost over, so I'll see you around." Tifa kissed him on the cheek and left.

 _The beginning of Dirge of Cerberus_

"That was even better than last time." Yuffie collapsed onto Cloud, laying her head on his chest.

"It sure was." Cloud's arms automatically encircled his Wutaian love.

"You know, if we got married, we could do this all the time without anymore sneaking around." Yuffie pointed out.

"Marriage?" Cloud was surprised that she brought it up. "I've been wanting to ask you for a while, but…"

"You don't want to do that to Tifa because she's alone still." Yuffie finished his sentence for him, trying to her voice level. She knew Cloud was in love with her, not Tifa, but she sometimes felt like Tifa was there with them, holding him back from committing. "You said she's been trying dating services?"

"Yeah. But when she explains that she's living with me and we're raising two kids together, it never works out." Cloud replied.

"Then if you moved in with me as my husband, it would be easier for her to find someone." Yuffie also knew that Tifa had been spending time with Vincent, and hoped something would develop between them. If she was overly obnoxious the next time she ran into the former Turk, maybe Tifa would look better by comparison.

"I'll think about it." Cloud would have talk to Tifa very soon regardless, because he wanted her blessing for his relationship with Yuffie, since he was getting tired of the strain of denying his feelings for her in Tifa's presence.

Vincent woke up from a dream of Lucrecia telling him she was sorry, and he told her he was the one who should apologize. Sitting on his bed, the dream faded slowly as he was reminded of his and Tifa's apologies to each other over their night together. The cellphone she had bought for him was right next to a wineglass filled with the red wine she had given him. He sighed as the memories of Lucrecia tormented him and tainted all of Tifa's friendly overtures. He heard unusual noises outside and went to investigate, wanting to focus on anything else right then.

 _The end of Dirge of Cerberus_

Listening to Shelke outside Lucrecia's cave, Vincent thought of Tifa and her insistence that he was as human as anyone, and wanting him to get out more. He took out his cellphone. "Call Tifa." he told it.

"Calling Pizza." the phone said back to him.

"No, not pizza…I want Tifa!" Vincent was getting fed up with having to go through this routine again, just like the first time he tried to call her, but he wasn't going to start swearing again, not with Shelke there.

"Extra cheese toppings." the phone started placing an order.

"Here, let me help you." Shelke took the phone from him and dialed Tifa's number and handed it back to him.

"Hello? Tifa?" Vincent said when she picked up.

"Vincent? You're okay!" Tifa was beyond relieved to hear his voice again. The past week had troubled her, not only with waiting for Vincent's return, but for how Cloud kept trying to start a conversation about something else when he would call in with an update on his searches, then he'd change his mind and hang up.

"Yeah, I think I am okay." Vincent said. "Would you like to go out for coffee?"

"This is a nice place." Tifa remarked as she sat down at the table across from Vincent at the little café he gave her the address to.

"I'm told they have very good coffee here." Vincent had been recommended to it by Reeve and Shelke, who had used her mental abilities to find the best reviewed café close to Tifa's apartment.

"Can I help you?" the waitress asked.

"Two coffees please." Vincent and Tifa said at the same time, then smiled at each other.

"So, has anything new happened to you in the past week?" Vincent asked Tifa when the waitress left.

"No, we were all just waiting for you to return, except the Turks who are trying to find Shalua's capsule." Tifa answered.

"I hope they do soon. She reminded me a bit of Lucrecia." Vincent explained.

The waitress brought the coffee then, and Tifa listened to Vincent talk about Lucrecia a bit more, noticing that he used past tense now when talking about his crystalline love. When they decided they had drunk enough coffee, they argued briefly over who should pay, until the waitress told them that it was on the house, as a thank you for saving the world a few times.

"Well that was nice." Tifa stood up, and she and Vincent walked back to her place. "Thank you for asking me. And I'm very glad you survived." She hugged him before going upstairs to start getting dinner ready.

"We need to talk." Cloud told Tifa as they ate dinner by themselves since Marlene and Denzel were spending the weekend with Barret.

"I know you've wanted to tell me something for a while. What is it?" Tifa questioned him.

"Yuffie asked me to marry her." Cloud blurted out. "I'd…I'd like to know we have your blessing."

"That's all?" Tifa plastered a smile on her face. "Of course you have my blessing…but what about Marlene and Denzel?"

"We haven't discussed that yet." Cloud admitted.

"Well, I hope you tell the kids when they get back before it happens, so they have time to adjust. And you're going to have to put away dinner yourself, I've got to start getting ready for another first date tonight." Tifa announced.

"That's great!" Cloud brightened up. "Do you need any extra money to help pay for…are you having dinner twice tonight?"

"No, I don't need help tonight, but thanks for offering." Tifa stood up and hurried to her room, taking deep breaths before going to her closet and pulling out the dress she always used for first dates and got into it, fixing her hair and makeup like she always did, slipping into her heels and grabbing her purse. "Don't wait up for me!" she called out to Cloud who was washing the dishes, before heading downstairs.

"Have a great time!" he responded.

Vincent was surprised by a knock on his door so late at night, and opened it to see who was there. "Tifa!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Vincent hadn't seen her so dressed up before.

"Can…can I stay here tonight?" she asked.


	5. Chapter 5

"What's wrong?" Vincent moved aside and let her enter his apartment.

"Cloud and Yuffie are getting married!" Tifa exclaimed. "I didn't know where else to go, I just couldn't stay there tonight."

Vincent poured her a glass of the red wine, setting it on the table next to her. "Drink this, it might help."

"I hope I'm not intruding on you." Tifa said after taking a sip from the glass to compose herself. "I want to be happy for him, but it just makes me feel so…"

"Lonely." Vincent finished for her, and she looked up at him gratefully for understanding. Lucrecia's surprise marriage to Hojo caused him to know what Tifa was going through, even though the situations weren't exactly the same. "Why are you so dressed up though?"

"I lied and told Cloud I had a date tonight. Then I just called a cab and went out for coffee before I came here." Tifa explained as she finished the glass of wine.

"Oh. Well, you're welcome to stay here, but I just have the bed." Vincent pointed out. "You can sleep there, I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, it's your place, I'll sleep on the floor. It doesn't really matter to me, this dress isn't good for sleeping in, no matter what." Tifa said.

"Then you need to be on the bed where it's softer." Vincent picked her up and gently placed her on it before laying down on the floor next to the bed.

Tifa laid there for a few moments in the dim light streaming through the windows, feeling uncomfortable. "Vincent, would you do me another favor?"

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Just hold me til I fall asleep. We won't do anything, I promise. I just don't want to be alone right now." Tifa replied.

"There's no curse worse than loneliness." Vincent said as he got back into his bed with her and embraced her.

Tifa was comforted by Vincent's arms around her, and closed her eyes. "Thanks for being my friend." She was soon lulled to sleep by the rhythmic sound of their mingled breathing.

 _Friend_. That word meant so much to Tifa, Vincent thought as he lay there, unwilling to leave her. She was quickly starting to mean so much to him. She had given him more than just a cellphone and a bottle of wine. She had given him herself, the first person he knew who could understand what he had been through, and chipped away at his loneliness. "Good night, my friend." Vincent tightened his arms around Tifa before falling asleep himself, as a soft smile appeared on her sleeping face.


	6. Chapter 6

"Tifa, it's time to wake up, your phone is ringing." Vincent said.

Tifa felt Vincent's arms release her and sighed, opening her eyes reluctantly to sunlight filling the room. Her sigh turned into a yawn before she turned over to look at him. "Looks like I slept in big time. You stayed with me all night?" When Vincent nodded, she smiled. "Thank you." Getting out of his bed when her phone kept ringing, she found her purse and took her phone out. "Hello? Oh, it's you Cloud. Yeah, I'm fine. Alright, I'll be there soon." Hanging up, she looked back at Vincent. "I've got to get to Seventh Heaven, he's not good at bartending. What are you doing tomorrow morning?"

"Why?" Vincent asked.

"I'd like to take you out to Sunday brunch." Tifa answered.

"Do you always take the men you sleep with out to breakfast every time?" Vincent made a rare attempt at a joke.

Tifa's cheeks turned slightly pink. "You and Cloud are the only men I've slept with." she reminded him. "I guess I'm not meant to find anyone." Tifa added quietly to herself as she left after thanking him again.

"Lucrecia did what?" Reeve asked Shelke. "Have you told Vincent yet?"

"No. I want to tell him, but if I do, it might defeat the purpose of the alteration. But if I don't, he might meet the wrong person." Shelke explained.

"There is that. We'll wait until Cloud and Yuffie's wedding. I know Tifa's been spending a lot of time with him, so we don't have to worry about him meeting the wrong woman with her around." Reeve decided.

Vincent stood up when he saw Tifa approach what was fast becoming their table at the café that gave them free coffee. They had started meeting here every Sunday for brunch and at least once during the week for lunch, and when he pulled her chair out for her, Tifa kissed him on the cheek before sitting down.

"Did you order yet?" she asked.

"Nothing but coffee, I was waiting for you." Vincent replied, then started looking at his menu while Tifa opened hers.

"Are you ready to order?" the waitress came over and asked them a few minutes later.

"I am. I'm feeling adventurous, so I'll have the jalapeno waffle melt sandwich." Tifa said. "Are you going to have the usual Junon omelet, Vincent?" She handed her menu back to the waitress. "Oh, and I'll have a mimosa." Tifa added.

Feeling a need to try something new as well, Vincent just pointed randomly at the menu and ordered that. The waitress looked at him strangely. "You're sure you want the senior special?"

"What's wrong with that? What is it?" Vincent asked.

"It's a bowl of oatmeal with a whole sausage and a peeled banana standing up in it. One elderly group we had in specially ordered that dish so they could make jokes about the good ol' days, and it became quite popular so we put it on the menu. But you're such a happy couple, these should be the good ol' days for you now."

"You think we're a couple?" Tifa was surprised.

"You both brighten up when you see the other one, and you finish each other's sentences frequently. Not to mention we've never seen you upset at the other." the waitress explained.

"I'll stick with the Junon omelet then." Vincent said, and the waitress scribbled it down before leaving to give their order to the cook.

"They think we're a couple?" Tifa repeated. Vincent was lost in thought, the waitress talking about elderly customers made him think about how Tifa was going to grow old and die while he lived on. He frowned, and Tifa mistook the reason for it. "Oh, I don't mean that being with you is repulsive at all. Please don't think that." Tifa put her hand over his claw glove.

Vincent decided that he needed to find Tifa someone so she wouldn't be live the rest of her life alone because she spent so much time with him. "I know you didn't mean it like that. What kind of man do you want to be with?" he asked casually.

"A decent non-perverted man." Tifa replied. "Well, that's the short version. It would take quite a bit to explain the long version."

"I've got all the time in the world." Vincent reminded her as their food arrived, and he listened to talk about her preferences while eating. "Can you show me again how to take a picture with my phone?" he asked her when they were done and walking back to Seventh Heaven.

"Sure." Tifa held out her hand and he gave her the phone. "You push this button on the side, and then you look at the screen to aim the camera, and push this button in the middle of the direction arrows to take the picture." She handed him his phone back.

"Let me try it." Vincent aimed the camera at her, and she blushed due to being photographed by him while she was still adjusting to people thinking they were a couple. "Okay, I think I got it."

"Let me see. That's not my best picture." Tifa looked at his phone. "Now it's my turn." She took out her own phone and took a picture of him.

"Why'd you do that?" Vincent wondered.

"Now we each have a single picture of each other, but we should have one of us together. I have pictures of me with all my friends except you." Tifa stood on her tiptoes and tried to aim her camera properly to get both of them in the picture. "This isn't working, you're too tall. Oh, there's a bus bench, let's go sit on it to take the picture."

A smiling Tifa sat in Vincent's lap and leaned over until their heads were touching and took a picture. "That's much better! Now let's take one for your phone." Tifa got off his lap and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Now you take this one."

Vincent paused before getting his phone back out and managed to take a picture after four failed attempts. "Okay, what do I do now?" he asked.

"You take pictures of your other friends now." Tifa explained. "I've got to get ready for the Sunday sports crowd now, I'll see you for lunch in a few days." She kissed him on the cheek as her usual goodbye.

As the sun set that day, Vincent was on top of the roof of his apartment building, watching it. Taking out his phone, he opened the picture of a blushing Tifa. "I'll find someone for you, I promise."


	7. Chapter 7

Vincent sighed. He was having no luck finding someone for Tifa. Keeping in mind what she wanted in a man, he had started with the W.R.O's military intelligence department. Having a high-level security pass thanks to Reeve, he started lurking around and showing the ranking members Tifa's picture, asking if they'd be willing to date her. Most of them knew of Tifa by her reputation as a martial artist, but the men were either married or not interested in women, and the occasional single straight man would look at her picture in a way that made Vincent want to hurt them. Walking home from another failed attempt to find someone worthy of Tifa at W.R.O., he spied Reno and Rude entering a bar across the street.

"Vincent! How are you?" Rude asked when he walked up to them.

"Hey buddy, you got any more tips for us?" Reno chimed in, alluding to Vincent frequently giving them useful information he discovered while lurking.

"Not this time." Vincent wondered if Tifa would consider him being a paid informant as a proper job, and that reminded him of why he was here. "Do you have a date for Cloud and Yuffie's wedding?" he asked them.

"Dude, you don't bring a chick to a wedding, you pick them up there!" Reno exclaimed in disgust at the very notion.

"I was going to ask Elena tomorrow." Rude replied.

"Would you ask Tifa instead?" Vincent asked Rude.

"I thought you were seeing her." Rude hadn't expected that question.

Vincent was getting used to the common misconception that they were a couple. He cared deeply about her, but nothing could ever come of it, not when he would outlive her by decades, if not centuries. "We're just friends."

"I'd like to be that friendly with a sweet piece of ass like Tifa." Reno commented.

Vincent's temper flared up and he grabbed Reno by the shirt with his clawed glove and lifted him up into the air. "Don't talk about her like that!" he snapped at the redhead.

"I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry!" Reno tried not to spill the beer mug which was still in his hand.

"Please ask her. And bring a bouquet of yellow and blue roses when you do, those are her favorite." Vincent told Rude as he let go of Reno and walked out of the bar.

The night before Cloud and Yuffie's wedding, Vincent came back to his apartment from a lurkabout to find Tifa waiting for him with a couple small pizza boxes. "How'd you get in?" he asked.

Tifa smiled. "I have my ways." She wasn't about to tell him that it was as easy as telling the landlord she was his sister, since she had been there quite a few times before. "You missed our lunch date yesterday, so I wanted to make sure you were okay." She was worried and more than a little hurt that he seemed to be distancing himself from her.

"Aren't you dating Rude now?" he questioned her.

"He's only my date for the wedding." Tifa had been surprised when he had come to the bar with her favorite flowers and formally asked her, but it had perked her up to be asked by Rude. The bar had buzzed for a long time gossiping about the boss' hot new man. "You're my friend. I not only brought pizza, I've got a couple movies to watch."

Vincent was going to object further, but then he remembered how she needed to be with him when she found out Cloud and Yuffie were getting married in the first place. She probably needed more comforting with the wedding happening tomorrow. "I don't have a DVD player." he pointed out.

"You don't?" Tifa sighed in frustration. "Well, maybe there's something on TV."

He still had very little room for furniture, so they sat on his bed while channel surfing for something entertaining and eating their own pizzas, both trying to figure out something to say.

"What did you look like when you first became a Turk?" Tifa suddenly blurted out. "You must have worn the typical suit." It was hard for her to imagine him looking like the Turks she knew, but she had always wondered about it.

"I did." Vincent reluctantly opened his nightstand drawer and pulled out the hard copy of his file that Tseng had given him along with his death benefit, handing it to Tifa.

"Oh, you were adorable!" Tifa exclaimed, looking at his picture, trying not to get all fangirly over how cute he was. The way women in her bar fawned over Reno made her find that kind of behavior nauseating.

"You mean I looked better when I was totally human." Vincent said.

"Don't put words in my mouth!" Tifa snapped. "You are totally human!"

"Is this human?" Vincent morphed into Chaos.

Tifa put her hand on Chaos' cheek. "If this is supposed to scare me away, someday I'm gonna have to have a little talk with you about the Red Death."

Vincent reappeared, Tifa's hand still on his cheek. "Red Death?"

Tifa held back her laughter at his question. "That's a discussion for another day."

"So what do we discuss now then?" Vincent wondered. The pizza was gone, there was nothing worthwhile on TV, and her presence was weakening his resolve to let her go.

"We can talk about what it will take for you to quit being so stubborn about accepting your humanity." Tifa covered his hands with hers.

"You're pretty stubborn yourself by not giving up on that, aren't you?" Vincent put the question to her, though he was pretty sure of her answer.

"I don't give up on my friends!" Tifa leaned over to kiss him in simple reassurance, so neither of them expected their bodies' intense reaction when their lips touched.

"Tifa, I…" Vincent wanted to tell her she wouldn't see him again after the wedding.

She put her finger on his lips. "Don't say anything to spoil this."

Vincent mentally sighed as he drew her warm body to his, giving in to their sudden fierce need for each other. Maybe it was better this way, he rationalized as he pushed her hair away from her face and kissed her. Tomorrow she wouldn't be able to waste time on him anymore, and she'd have Rude to cure her loneliness. But tonight Tifa would give him a lasting memory to cure his.


	8. Chapter 8

Tifa opened her eyes and instantly sat up, shocked to find herself in her own bed, clutching the red cloak. "Vincent?"

"You're up!" Marlene ran into her bedroom, and Tifa hurriedly tightened the quilt around herself. "When are we leaving?"

Tifa forced a smile at Marlene's exuberance, momentarily shoving aside her confusion at not waking up with Vincent. "We've all got to get dressed first, don't we?" Once Marlene left, closing the door behind her, Tifa stayed in bed for a few moments, not only to collect her thoughts, but because she didn't feel quite right and rather sore. She wondered what could have made him leave her. Did he still doubt her friendship? At least he didn't involuntarily morph into Chaos for a few seconds during their climax like he did when they first had sex last year, probably because he was sober this time. Tifa had never told him about that, knowing it would upset him to know he hurt her, but it wasn't serious. Cloud had noticed a small puncture wound where Chaos' hand had been between her shoulder blades the next morning in the bar, and Cloud had told her it wasn't very deep as he bandaged her up. It had itched terribly at first, but healed just fine, so she forgot about it until last night. That area on her back had started heating up when she touched Chaos last night, and the sensation increased during her multiple sexual encounters with Vincent, and Tifa planned to have it checked out tomorrow. She always wore her hair down anyway so that would hide anything wrong.

"You're beautiful." Rude said when he arrived an hour later and saw Tifa all dolled up in her Maid of Honor dress.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself in that tux." Tifa smiled, grateful the hot shower made her sore muscles feel up to getting dressed. She double-checked her purse as Rude re-introduced himself to Marlene and Denzel. They had never had a proper introduction during the Geostigma outbreak. There was enough makeup and ibuprofen and cold medicine to help her with whatever was wrong with her today, so she closed her purse. "Is everyone ready to go?"

Vincent arrived late to the wedding, he hadn't wanted to come at all, but he couldn't bring himself to leave without making Rude and Tifa got along. He already had a special note for her at his place when she would inevitably show up there looking for him. He refused to decide where he would go next, that way he wouldn't be tempted to let her know. A year or two away would be nothing to him, and that would be plenty of time for Rude to win her heart. Looking at Tifa standing next to Yuffie during the ceremony, he could tell something was wrong with her. Did he hurt her last night?

 _Tifa all but ripped his clothes off, her need to be with him more demanding than anything she had yet experienced, and Vincent found himself responding to her just as intensely. Running his hands up her legs and under her skirt, he used his clawed glove to tear her panties off. Tifa groaned and moved her skirt aside as she sat herself in his lap. Vincent found himself pinning her to the bed as he penetrated her. She gladly cried out to have him inside her again, and he smothered her mouth with his. Tifa's hands encouraged him to continue thrusting into her almost violently. Soon the whole room smelled of sweat and sex as Tifa screamed out from her latest orgasm. Whatever compelled their union had been sated with their first coupling, but their need to banish their loneliness was just as intense, and they found themselves unable to stop until their fourth encounter._

" _That was incredible." Tifa breathed. She didn't know it was possible for her body to feel the things Vincent had made her feel. "I'll concede that you're not totally human, not after that." She teased as she put her head on his chest, and was soon fast asleep._

 _Vincent took her last words too seriously, and he was disgusted with himself. He had wanted to make love to Tifa, not take her like an animal in heat. He couldn't apologize to her, because she either would tell him he had nothing to apologize for or easily forgive him. Vincent knew better…he refused to treat the woman he loved that way, finally admitting to himself that he did love Tifa. He carefully disengaged himself from her and dressed quickly, wrapping Tifa's sleeping body in his cloak, taking her home via the rooftops. Opening her bedroom window, he gently put her in her own bed, taking his cloak back. He paused as he was going to put it back on, and laid it next to Tifa instead._

" _Goodbye, my friend." Vincent kissed her on the forehead and went back out her window, closing it and heading back to his rooftop, standing there for a moment looking up at the moon. "Damn you, Chaos!" Vincent swore. He had felt it lurking beneath the surface wanting to be unleashed during his time with Tifa, and he finally understood why. Chaos was the only one of its kind, unable to understand companionship. No doubt it viewed Tifa as a threat. It was a solitary beast, and now he would be one too._

"Are you okay?" Rude asked Tifa at the reception dinner.

"I'm just looking for Vincent." Tifa was tired of being asked that question by everyone who knew her. She wasn't okay, but she just needed to get this day over with and rest some, then she'd be fine. "Have you seen him?"

"No, I haven't. You two are close, aren't you?" Rude was also wondering where Vincent was, since this was his idea in the first place.

"I thought we were." Tifa frowned and stood up, Rude standing up when she did. "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." Tifa hurried to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face, and then checked her purse for something to put her hair up. Her back was getting really irritated by her hair touching it.

Elena came out of one of the stalls and washed her hands. "You were a pretty Maid of Honor." she said to Tifa, who thanked her. "Do you mind if I dance with Rude a couple times? I expected him to ask me to be his date, but Vincent got to him first."

"Vincent?" Tifa was surprised, and starting to feel a little dizzy as she quickly braided her hair, which exposed her back and made it feel better.

"He nearly kicked Reno's ass and told Rude to ask you out. Even told him what kind of flowers to bring." Elena explained. "Yuffie told me that Vincent was starting to become a permanent fixture at W.R.O., trying to find you a date."

Anger boiled in Tifa's veins, making her feel good enough to storm out of the bathroom in search of Vincent. He must be here, she just knew he was. Shelke was just about to enter the bathroom and collided with Tifa. Apologies were exchanged, then Shelke got a glimpse of Tifa's back as she continued storming off. "The Mark!" She hurried off herself to find Reeve.

Tifa found Vincent about to leave the banquet hall. "Stop right there!" she yelled at him. "I want some answers, and I want them now!"

Vincent paused. If she was angry at him, it would make his leaving easier. "Answers about what?"

"Were you trying to foist me off to any takers?" she demanded to know as her dizziness returned worse than before. "I told you I won't whore myself out to anyone, and I certainly won't let my friends do it for me!"

"What? That's not what I was trying to do!" Vincent protested.

"I also told you that anything between us was non-binding. We're just enjoying each other's company, not dating. That's what friends do!"

"I just want you to be happy. Rude is everything you want in a man." Vincent pointed out.

"I know what I want, and what I want is-" Tifa never got a chance to finish her exclamation because Reeve and Shelke rushed up to them.

"We've got to get Tifa out of here now." Reeve interrupted as he urgently tried to usher Tifa outside. "An ambulance is waiting outside."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere til you tell me what's going on!" Tifa stood her ground until she suddenly collapsed onto the floor in convulsions.

"Tifa!" Vincent tried to rush to her side, but Reeve restrained him.

"Don't touch her and interfere with the process." Reeve told him.

Unsure what to do, Vincent watched helplessly as paramedics rushed in and secured her to a gurney, working around her flailing limbs. He was horrified as he saw her body change colors and occasionally seem to glow. He felt himself holding his breath when she suddenly seemed to shrink into herself and then went deathly still.

Reeve gave some orders to the paramedics as they took Tifa to the ambulance and then turned to Shelke. "I'll stay and explain things here. You go with Vincent to the hospital and explain it to him." He turned to Vincent and slapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations, you're a lucky man!" Reeve said before walking into the main room where Cloud was rushing towards them to find out what happened to Tifa.

"Come on, let's get to the hospital." Shelke took Vincent's hand to start dragging him outside. "Oh, and start breathing again."

Vincent stopped holding his breath as they climbed into the back of the ambulance. When he went to take Tifa's hand in his own, the paramedic setting up Tifa's IV stopped him. "Why can't I touch her?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, don't touch her yet, Vincent. I'll explain at the hospital." Shelke promised him.

Vincent kept his hands to himself for the rest of the ride, praying to any god that would listen to spare Tifa.

A private room had been made available for Tifa, and Shelke was in deep discussion with her doctors before making Vincent sit down in a chair. "Okay, now I can tell you." she said as the doctors were telling the nurses what to do.

"Is she going to die?" was Vincent's only question.

Shelke smiled. "Well, that's up to you now."

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked but wasn't looking at Shelke, he only had eyes for Tifa as Shelke walked over to the bed and gently turned her over to expose her back. "The Mark of Chaos! Wha…why?"

"It was Lucrecia's final act of atonement. She had ruined things for the two of you, and she wanted you to find someone, but since she had made you almost immortal to save you, she made one last secret alteration. Knowing you weren't the type to just have a drunken one night stand, she made it so when you were intimate with a woman, Chaos would implant part of itself in her. It would stay there, priming itself for the next stage. The next time you were intimate would be the catalyst, causing her body to be taken over by the Chaos gene." Shelke informed him.

"Tifa's Chaos now too?" Vincent was glad he was sitting down, otherwise he might have fallen down in shock upon hearing Shelke's revelation.

"Oh, no!" Shelke shook her head for emphasis. "There can only be one Chaos. Lucrecia only gave wanted to give the woman you chose the same longevity you have."

"You mean…" The surprises kept coming for Vincent.

"Lucrecia wasn't totally sure of this herself, but I believe Tifa will live as long as you do." Shelke finished.

"If you call this living." Vincent gestured at her comatose form. "Why can't I touch her?"

"Her body is undergoing a massive systematic change and it's fighting it. Think of the problem with organ transplant rejections. The Chaos gene will win in the end, it will just take time. And until it's complete, she's vulnerable. As you're part Chaos, any contact with you could cause Chaos to take itself back from her, and that would kill her." Shelke told him.

"So we just wait?" Vincent asked.

"Yes." Shelke replied. "We just monitor her and keep her body going."

"Text me when she wakes." Vincent left, not wanting to risk hurting Tifa further and needing time to digest Lucrecia's last act on his behalf.

Vincent's phone went off in the ringtone he had saved for special occasions. Hopeful, he opened it and smiled. _She just woke up._ He dialed the number right back. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He was in Junon, so he morphed into Chaos and flew, reaching the hospital in just a few minutes and reverting back to himself before entering.

Reeve and Shelke were in Tifa's hospital room, explaining things to her when Vincent walked in. "How long have I been asleep?" Tifa asked them.

"Two years." Reeve answered as the rest of her friends filled the room. Cloud and Yuffie with a baby, Marlene and Denzel behind them, followed by Barret and Cid with Shera.

"Two years?" Tifa was stunned by it all and then caught sight of Vincent looking a little guilty, and she refused to tolerate that. It wasn't his fault after all. "Vincent?"

"Yes?" He hurried to her side.

"Be my friend now?" Tifa lifted her hand out to him.

Vincent glanced at Shelke, and she nodded that it was okay to touch her now. He smiled and took Tifa's hand in his. "And **forever**." he answered, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it.


	9. Chapter 9

Nanaki and his pups stood by the cliff edge, looking over the ruins of Midgar, the Shinra building covered with wild vines.

"Why are we here, Father?" his youngest pup asked.

"You need to learn what happened here 500 years ago." Nanaki replied.

"Please tell us, Father." his eldest pup requested.

"No, you won't hear it from me. There are others whom you need to listen to." Nanaki told them.

"Who?" his pups asked together.

Nanaki sniffed the air. "They're almost here." Turning to face the west, he waited and soon saw two figures walking towards them. As they got closer, his pups saw two middle-aged people walking hand in hand, and the pups had occasionally seen people, but not enough to be comfortable around them. Hiding behind Nanaki, they peeked out.

"It's good to see you again, Nanaki. Are these the new students?" Tifa squatted down and looked at the pups. "It's okay, we won't hurt you. We're old friends of your father."

"Go with them." Nanaki ordered his pups, who hesitantly came out from behind him.

"You need to come down the cliffs. We'll meet you at the bottom." Tifa told them, then rappelled down the cliff as the pups jumped down onto all the outcroppings on the cliffside. Vincent flew down, even though he knew Tifa would chide him for showing off. When they reached the bottom, the pups were startled by bleating sounds coming from nearby. "Oh, the livestock must be scared by our visitors. Vincent, would you mind tending to them, and I'll take them through the ruins?" Tifa asked him.

"That's fine." Vincent separated from them, heading towards the homestead that he and Tifa had made for themselves. They had spent time scavenging in the ruins, they had found everything they needed to carve and furnish a home into the cliffside and then bought seeds, plants, and livestock to have a totally self-sufficient homestead. He approached their animals and they were panicking as Tifa had guessed. Vincent calmed them down, then started getting dinner ready.

When she finally came back after giving the pups their history lesson, Tifa smiled to see dinner all ready on the kitchen table. "Why don't we eat outside?" she suggested, and Vincent agreed.

They ate in their gazebo, not bothered by the biting insects, since the bugs were repelled by the Chaos inside them. After dinner, they drank their homemade red wine and watched the sunset. "So, another successful lesson?" he asked her.

"Yes." Tifa smiled. She was grateful as ever for him…the longevity he had thought of as a curse was a godsend to her. She had all the time in the world to experience life, and she had found her purpose. She and Vincent were living historians, so that no one would ever forget all that was almost lost, and the price of success, After the last of their old friends had died, they wandered around Gaia, spending a few years here and there, and 200 years after Meteorfall, they came back to the Midgar area to find it deserted and the plant growth starting to overtake it. That's when she had decided to make this her permanent home to teach those who sought out to find the truth. Vincent had refused to leave her, and his added perspective was invaluable. Tifa had written down everything she remembered multiple times, so if anything ever happened to them, someone would find the journals. She had also gotten hold of the Buster Sword, which had been neglected by Cloud and Yuffie's descendants. It was now hidden deep in the ruins, with the obstacle course she created barring the way. Only someone else with Cloud's battle prowess would be able to claim the sword when it was needed.

"Ready to go back inside?" Vincent asked.

"Yes, it's getting chilly out here now." Tifa gathered up the plates and silverware, while Vincent took the wine bottle and glasses inside.

She washed the dishes, then took a quick shower as Vincent headed to his room. He had insisted on separate bedrooms, not wanting to make Tifa feel obligated to him, just because they were united through Chaos. He got into his bed and closed his eyes, opening them again when he heard a noise in his doorway, unsurprised to see Tifa there, in one of the white nightgowns she preferred. He still found her beautiful after all these centuries.

"Comfort me?" she asked quietly.

Vincent held out his hand to her, and she gratefully took it. He had been expecting her after all, reliving the past always upset her as it brought back the grief of losing Cloud and all her friends, even though she felt it was her life's work. He drew her to his bed and into his arms. "What are friends for?"


End file.
